WYCHAVON District Council has defended a decision to cut the hours of the Droitwich Community Contact Centre.
New hours coming into force this week mean the centre, which is based at the town’s library in Victoria Square, is now open from 9.30am to 2pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, rather than between 9.30am and 5.30pm on those three days, as it was previously.
Those hours will be in place on a trial basis for the next six months, when the situation will be reviewed.
The authority said the move had been made after the number of people using the centre had fallen by 34 per cent, compared to 2012 to 2013.
An average of 57 people now use the community contact centre each day and less than four of those do so after 2pm.
Kath Smith, Wychavon District Council’s customer and support services manager, said: “We have made a slight reduction to the opening hours of Droitwich Community Contact Centre due to falling demand.
“These changes have been made on a trial basis and we will listen carefully to any feedback from the public, but we could not justify the cost of having up to three members of staff to serve so few people.”
She added, as well as being open between 9.30am and 2pm on the three days, the self-service kiosk remained open so people could make payments and there was now also a free to use phone service which had been installed to enable residents to contact staff up until 5pm.
Residents can also visit: www.wychavon.gov.uk to access services online.
